Caple
Caple is a London- and Amsterdam-based SME credit platform that originates unsecured, fixed-rate growth loans of £500k–£5m for established UK businesses, funded through BNP Paribas Asset Management's SME Alternative Financing vehicle.
What they do
Caple sits between a bank and a company's equity layer, providing a complementary unsecured tranche where the borrower's existing bank or working-capital facility stops. Loans run five to eight years at a fixed rate with quarterly principal repayments and no security, debenture, or personal guarantee required. Credit decisions are based on the borrower's business plan, management quality, and projected cash flows rather than asset collateral. All deals are originated through Caple's accredited partner network of independent accountants and financial advisers; borrowers cannot apply directly.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
Caple is a strong fit where a profitable, established SME (£1m–£50m turnover, two profitable years out of the last three, DSCR ≥1.2x) needs an additional growth or acquisition tranche of £500k–£5m alongside—not instead of—an existing bank relationship, and where the business cannot or does not want to offer security. It is particularly well suited to MBOs, bolt-on acquisitions, and growth capex where the bank has already lent to its secured limit. The unsecured, fixed-rate structure means the borrower avoids asset valuation and legal security costs.
Where they are not the fit
Caple is not the right counterparty for facilities above £5m, for businesses without a two-year profitable trading history, or for borrowers whose net third-party debt already exceeds 4x EBITDA. It does not lend into property development, financial services, mining, coal, palm oil, or gambling. Businesses without an existing accredited partner (accountant or IFA in the Caple network) cannot access the product directly. It is also not suitable where speed is critical or where the borrower has had payment defaults in the last three years.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not published
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Sponsorless or owner-managed corporate - serves SMEs that struggle to raise via traditional channels, no private equity backing required
- Where they lend
- UK and Netherlands (offices London + Amsterdam); historically also Germany. UK core
- How they decide
- Partner network (~70 accountancy/advisory firms) originates; Caple credit team does initial assessment; BNP Paribas AM platform funds. Head of Credit (UK) gates UK files
- Covenants
- Maintenance covenants, tested every period
- Search funds and ETA
- Lends to search-fund and entrepreneurship-through-acquisition buyers on the published evidence
- Personal guarantee
- Required on some facilities and not others: its unsecured loans need no security or personal guarantee, while its secured loans may include some personal guarantees
As published by the lender and last reviewed July 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
What rules a deal out
Stated limits, taken from Caple’s own published criteria. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- Security stance has tightened vs BNPP-era 'no PG' marketing
- No appetite in adult, crypto, gambling or weapons
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling is £5m; 33 of the 46 private-credit funds here go at least as high.
- It opens lower than almost all of them, at £500k.
- Like 31 of the 46, it publishes no indicative price — a margin comes from a conversation, not a page.
Counted across the 46 private-credit & direct-lending funds in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does Caple write?
Published facilities run £500k to £5m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
Does Caple lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Yes, on the published evidence. Caple lends to search-fund and entrepreneurship-through-acquisition buyers. A searcher's route to a lender usually runs through the quality of the target and the equity behind it.
Does Caple lend to companies without a private-equity sponsor?
Yes. Caple lends to owner-managed and corporate borrowers, and publishes no private-equity sponsor proposition.
Where does Caple lend?
UK and Netherlands (offices London + Amsterdam); historically also Germany. UK core.
What covenants does Caple set?
Maintenance covenants, tested every period. A covenant package is negotiated on the facility; the published style is where the negotiation starts.
Does Caple require a personal guarantee?
On some facilities and not others. Caple's own site says its unsecured loans need no security or personal guarantee, and that the security package on its secured loans may include some personal guarantees.
On the record
Caple International Limited is registered at Companies House under number 11460754, incorporated 12 July 2018, registered address 167–169 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5PF.
BNP Paribas Asset Management acquired a 10% strategic stake in Caple in November 2017 and provides the institutional capital for Caple-originated loans through its SME Alternative Financing direct lending platform.
Caple lends £500,000 to £5 million per facility on unsecured terms — no security, personal guarantees or warrants — over terms of five to eight years, positioned as growth credit for established SMEs.
Caple supported an £2m eight-year unsecured loan to Grayson Thermal Systems and a £3m eight-year unsecured loan to Spinnaker International Ltd in the same week in 2023.
Caple facilitated a £3.5m (€4m) eight-year unsecured loan to Celestia Technologies Group to support an acquisition and growth, described as a cross-border facility.
Caple's origination model requires all loan applications to be submitted via an accredited independent accountant or financial adviser in its partner network; direct applications are not accepted.
Caple was founded by Michiel Slinkert (Managing Partner) and operates from offices in London and Amsterdam.
BNP Paribas Asset Management's SME Alternative Financing platform, through which Caple loans are funded, targets senior unsecured fixed-rate loans of €0.5m–€5m and has stated an ambition to provide €1bn per year in SME funding across Europe.
Sources: caple.eu · find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.